Leaps and Bounds

That's me trying to imitate Jane's blogger identity picture with her baby girl. It's not a very good imitation at all.



I haven't written in over a week because there isn't anything exciting happening in the Soares house. The kids are VERY tired of being cooped up in the house. Their new past time is climbing. As a result, they are in to EVERYTHING. It seems that everything that belong to me is much more exciting than their toys. Here's the damage over the last week:

If you can guess which child committed which crime and comment about it I will send you a prize!

• Lots of tissues strewn about the house
• 4 spilled glasses by one child
• 2 more spilled glasses by another child
• 1 salt covered table
• 4 pepper covered cars
• 1 carpet stained by nail polish
• 2 hands covered in nail polish
• 1 nose painted with nail polish
• 1 wall colored on by a Sharpie

Isaac, on the other hand totally surprised me by creating a Power Point presentation for extra credit in his class. I didn't even know he could do Power Point. It was really cool too! He had animation and everything. What a good kid. Now if he could only learn where to put his shoes when he is done wearing them...

Thank you

Praise God that he was merciful to me on Friday! To make a long story short, I took the whole clan of children (except for my sick Abbie-she stayed home with Daddy) to Make a Mess and they had a BLAST. Actually, I did to because my friend came to keep me company while her son played with Alexander. We were actually able to have girl talk-uninterrupted while keeping an eye on all the kids. The kids then wore themselves out and were too tired even to argue with each other or me the rest of the day. A true miracle.

Another miracle began the following afternoon after I had ran here, there and everywhere before our night away for our anniversary. Mike helped me get laundry done and get the house picked up so that I could give the kids their baths before running my mother through the gambit with unnecessary instructions. Finally we were on our way. Inside, I felt pretty rotten. I hadn't had a spare moment to myself, hadn't looked in the mirror and barely had enough time to change my clothes before heading out to an upscale restaurant. At the last minute I said to Mike, "let's just leave now and I can get ready at the Hotel and then we can go out to eat." That is what turned our night around. I was able to get ready in twenty minutes at the hotel BY MYSELF (it would have taken 40 if I were at home). Mike made sure that I knew he thought I was beautiful and I didn't need to do anything special for him, still I thought it would be respectful to show up at the restaurant with hair that looked a little better than last night's pony tail. Once I was ready, our dinner was quiet, romantic, and fabulous. As we were eating, we praised God by talking about all of the wonderful moments we've had together. We both declared that while we were in love with the person we saw in each other 5 years ago, we recognize that that perception is skewed by our own subjectivity. What we have now is better and we can only thank God for our vulnerability and perseverence over the last 5 years. I am truly a blessed woman for I have been given a gift from God and while he drives me CRAZY most days, God has given me His representative to care for and love me. For that I say THANK YOU to all of you who have been a part of our lives and prayed for our family.

Sick little baby girl

... And all she wanted was her big brother. So cute. Abbie has never been sick before, but she showed her vulnerability last night. Her temperature escalated to 103 and after (finally) keeping the tylenol in her system, she was splashing in the tub and jumping on the couch. Who knows what today holds for us? Today is our 5 year anniversary. The kids have been off of school for 3 days for bad weather and I am a wreck. Mostly because the parents of the kids I watch weren't threatened in the least by Abbie's illness. They knew their kids had already been exposed and since Mike is home, I couldn't really claim that I am incapable of caring for their children, but they ignored the risk. Please forgive my cynicism. I am running on low sleep and these three days are EXACTLY why I got out of full time day care. My prayers (and yours) were answered yesterday when I explained to my day care parents that I needed the afternoon off to go work at the Office so please pray for MERCY for me today. At this point I don't want to go away with my husband tomorrow night, I don't feel like looking pretty or eating at a nice restaurant or skiing with my oldest on Monday. Please pray for God's best regarding those decisions. Thank you! Carrie

Wierd little girl..

2009 or bust!

January always makes me nervous for the coming year. Ask my family, I have been on an emotional roller coaster ever since New Year's Day. Here's the run down:

• Alexander's birthday came and went. I'm glad he is only three b/c it was a pretty lame celebration. I promise to try harder next year.
• New Job opportunity!!! Might mean less blogging. Did I hear a sigh of relief from the audience? Shame on you!
• Started Jazzercizing, it's really fun! I do my best to keep if fun and funny b/c if I didn't, I would give up.
• Mike and I will be married 5 years on the 16th! I am amazed and hope to celebrate it without thinking/worrying about the kids, chores, and up coming job opportunity.
• Church is AWESOME! we are doing this series called "Advice for Barack." It rocks! Check out last weeks sermon at www.heartcc.org I love how the theme is about servant leadership.
• I'm very nervous about the new job opportunity. At first I was thrilled, then I began to think about what needs to happed between now and January 31st and it is scary.
• I am also nervous about taxes. In general it goes pretty smoothly once Mike and I organize our jurisdictions but now I have childcare to factor in. It's not so organized.
• Terrible Threes are a roller coaster in themselves
• Hell hath no fury like "Abbie" scorned

I guess that is everything. Playgroups start next week and the kids and I are very happy about that. We missed all our friends there!

Happy Birthday Alexander!

Down with terrible twos and on to terrible threes!!!

The moment you haven't been waiting for...

Merry Christmas from the Soares kids. This is the final result birthed from the horrid photo experience described in the "Smile Dammit" blog. Getting 3 kids to smile at the same time is priceless!
At church tonight I had a very fulfilling experience. It was truly a breath of fresh air. We sang carols by candle light after we devoured the accounts of Jesus' birth. This may sound pessimistic, but I have never really embraced the Christmas story like so many around me do. God was God, the people were obedient and some astrologers and shepherds witnessed it all as angels sang "glory to God in the Highest." It just doesn't impact me as it does others around me. I guess the year I was pregnant with Alexander and had contractions on Christmas day I sort of identified with Mary. I also relate to Joseph more than anybody because he is a step parent but other than that, it is hard for me to really "feel" the miracle of Jesus birth. Until tonight. As Roger talked, I thought yeah, yeah, I know. I know the story so why did I come to church tonight. Then Roger told a story about a boy that sat on the sidelines with a sort of "bah Humbug" attitude toward the hard work the father had done in order to celebrate Christmas. That's me. So what. What now? Then we turned off the lights. I felt like God gave me the "quiet" I have hungered for all this month. My heart did a 180. The big screen at church said "stop." And I did. Those of you who know me know I don't do that well. You've probably been victims of my resistance to "stopping." The screen said something like stop worring, stop THINKING, stop rushing etc.... Big deal right? Then we passed out the candles and sang Silent Night. I wanted it to last forever. There were times when all I could do was listen (another Christmas miracle). The auditorium was filled with worship. The worship was in the form of "Thank you God for your gift. Thank you for giving us a second chance. Thank you for your Holiness." I will never be able to recreate that moment but for me, that was the best Christmas present ever. For what it is worth, I pray the longing of your heart will be answered this Christmas.